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Five Announcements Nintendo Should Make Right Now

As expected, yesterday Nintendo’s stock plunged by 18% after the news that they were cutting their Wii U and 3DS forecasts by huge margins as the fiscal year draws to a close in a few months. I wrote about how their own warped perception of their success is almost more dangerous to the company than the actual numbers, and they need a reality check to get back on track. This has to be it.

And as much as I love discussing grand theories about what Nintendo needs to do to turn things around, they’re not always practical. As much as we would like them too, Nintendo isn’t going to announce a “Super Wii” project this morning, a new console to compete with the Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PS4. Nor, as per my suggestion, are we going to hear they’re ceasing production of the Wii U and starting to make software for competitor systems. Perhaps someday, but not today, and not tomorrow for either of these ideas.

So, what can they announce right now that will have an impact on investors and make fans think that they’ve at least learned something in this mess? Here are a few ideas.

Iwata Out

I really don’t need to write an entire essay on why this needs to happen, because VG247′s Matt Martin has done it for me. The long and short of it is that this missed prediction lands squarely on Iwata. He had time and time again to revise the 9 million forecast for Wii U sales, but waited until three months before the deadline to admit it was off by more than 300%, and really only 2.8M Wii Us will be sold (hopefully, at this rate). The same goes for the 3DS forecast, which even as the system sells well, was still off by 5 million or so. This is inexcusable, as is pretty much everything that’s happened with the Wii U’s marketing and development since its inception, all under Iwata’s watch. But the missed forecast is probably his most egregious offense, and it’s dangerously close to almost misleading investors. Nintendo needs new leadership for a lot of reasons, and I think it’s Iwata’s time to step down.

Though Nintendo has promised that unified accounts are coming down the road to link 3DS and Wii U purchases, many of their most devoted fans are starting to become skeptical of the company because of how poorly they manage their digital sales. Something as simple as a software glitch or a hardware failure forces players to rebuy games they’ve already bought, as Nintendo simply doesn’t seem to care the games were already purchased once. If you say, lose your entire 3DS by accident, you wouldn’t just lose your save games, you’d lose your entire game library, and would have to repurchase everything unless you successfully barter with Nintendo for a refund credit. Imagine if your iPad or Kindle broke and your had to repurchase all of your apps or ebooks. Sounds silly, but that’s the world Nintendo is living in right now, and it’s unacceptable.

Back Catalog Unleashed

This may sound like the most ambitious project on the list, but Nintendo could at least announce they’re working on such an idea. If emulator makers can do it in their spare time, Nintendo should be able to replicate the process as an actual company with actual R&D funding. For as much as Nintendo likes remaking the same eight series over and over, they have been astonishingly stubborn when it comes to making their full back catalog of old games available for download. Not to say they need to make their own iOS or Android emulator app, but at the very least, they need to have such a thing for their own hardware, the Wii U and 3DS. There are so many more games out there they could bring out of retirement, and they simply choose not to most of the time. For their non-first party titles, it would require a bit of negotiation, but a full emulator-ish back catalog for NES, SNES, N64 and even Gamecube would go a long way to giving their hardware something their competition doesn’t have. Problem is, even someone like Sony is starting to work on something like that with the ambitious PlayStation Now, and Nintendo doesn’t want to be beaten to the punch.

For as much as Nintendo fans love to point out all the potentially great games that are coming for the system, that’s not terribly helpful when there’s no telling if an anticipated game is coming out in two months or two years. I realize Nintendo doesn’t want to commit to a release date and then miss it, as that would only make their situation worse, but to have that level of AAA games in the pipeline with not a single release date among them is wrong, and they need to start doing better than doling out a new Super Smash Bros. combatant as an announcement every few weeks.

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To this day he’s only played two games with any consistency: LEGO City Undercover, and Super Mario 3D World (which just released)

There is only one game in the Wii U future that he even cares about, (Super Smash Bros.)

The fact that an 11 year old boy has no interest in a brand new video game console other than to play one or two games is the only information I need to tell me the console and the company behind it needs a compete overhaul.

So your 11 year old boy has no interest in Wii U Skylanders, LEGO Marvel, Lego Batman, Monster Hunter, Rayman, Pikmin, Disney Infinity, Scribblenauts, Duck Tales, Toki Tori, Runner, Kirby, Giana sisters bla bla bla… so then you should buy him PS4 and he can play COD Ghosts, Killzone, Battlefield 4, AC 4 or some other great game for small children.

All games you listed are available for standard Wii. Your comparison and conclusions that his child requires a far more mature system with M rated style games shows a lack of understanding and immaturity I cannot come up with the words to define. No, I got it “Straw Man”.

It doesn’t concern me in the least. Kids have a variety of interests, and some kids may only be excited about certain games. I have 7 siblings, and each and every one of them have vast differences in the games they like. For example, on the Wii, I have one 7 year old sister that much prefers the Littlest Pet Shop game and doesn’t play anything else. In contrast, I have a 13 year old sister that loves the Zelda series and will play only those games, or Mario Party. Then I have a 12 year old sister that loves the Lego Star Wars game and loves playing that. All of them do like Super Smash Brothers or the Super Mario Bros. games, but to judge a system based off the idea that an eleven year old boy only wants certain games seems a bit silly to me.

If Nintendo wants to turn themselves around they need to start releasing some big name games…….. Zelda for instance, this is the first Nintendo console launch I remember that hasn’t included a new Zelda, and not a HD version of Wind Waker. And what about Star Fox, I haven’t seen a Star Fox game in years and it was always a fan favorite….. And what about some new exclusive RPG’s. Bottom line, if you release a great console with no games to attract buyer attention you’re not going to sell a lot of consoles!!!!!!

I agree 100%. Not a remake of wind waker (lazy). What about a new Metroid HD, a new zelda HD, a new Starfox HD, ll from the ground up. All brand new adventures. Not old games remade. Lets see the power of NINTENDO classics but made for this generation. Im very dissapointed and my sons Wii u collects dust.

well i have the wii u and almost every game so i find it hard ur 11 yr old only plays 1-2 try these titles for it my kids and i love them Tank Tank Tank free. Trine2 amazing. The Cave amazing. Pokemon Rumble U very fun. Batman all of them. pinball. Fist of the North Star. Avoid TnT racers its awful. Rayman legends is great. Crazy coster. Castle Storm. Dr Luigi. Luigi U. New super Mario U. Nintendo Land. COD. Assassins Creed. Wipe Out. Lil Inferno i can keep going with this many great games.my kids love netflix on it also and youtube

The remake of Wind Waker wasn’t lazy. The Zelda U development team was having trouble developing for the Wii U so they took six months off to practice on the new hardware by upgrading Wind Waker. Now that may be inefficient but lazy, no.

First of all I never said he hasn’t played any other games, in fact, he has played most of the games on that list, but the majority of them bored him so much that he didn’t play them very long, and several of them are on other systems, so they are not games that would sell a system, which is what this article is about.

He did play the Batman games, but for the PS3. Would never pick the Wii U over the PS3 version of the same title simply because of the DLC if for no other reason.

It’s not a matter of Sony being dumb, it’s that Nintendo is worth a massive amount of money and is still massively profitable. The 3DS sold more systems than any other console last year, to buy Nintendo, Sony would basically bankrupt their company. They’re already losing tons of money in the TV, sound systems, portable music devices, computers, and camera market. Spending billions of dollars and pushing their company further into the red is not a viable strategy.

1) Technology – After the Wii’s limited technology upon launch, people were sick of the shoddy shovelware games that were created by the 3rd parties (since the wii was so underpowered, companies that wanted to publish on it could not port down the games they were making for the XB/PS3, they had to create entirely new skus for the Wii, this often led to bad software as these titles were often farmed out to other developers and made cheaply/quickly as they didn’t expect big sales and needed to piggyback advertising dollars on the more advanced sku. The result – Shovelware! A whole catalog of games that suck. All of it because the Wii’s hardware was slow and old.) Nintendo should have learned from this but they did not. What did they put in the WiiU? Hardware that performs at about the level of the last generation of hardware (which was outdated a year later with the launch of the PS4/XB1, Nintendo should have known this was going to happen, this is what happened to the Dreamcast – though DC’s spec’s were quite a bit better than what was available as a home console in 1999.) I know they did this to not subsidize their hardware as heavily as Sony/MS but how much do they save when no one buys the system?

2) 1st Party Support – OK, so its technology is old, doesn’t matter right since they will support the system with Zelda/Mario/Pokemon/Smash Bros? They didn’t even do that. We got a 2D mario game and that was it. How did they think they were going to get a solid installed base with just a 2d mario game? And here we are a couple years later, still no new Zelda or Smash Bros. Every year that goes by without these titles dates the hardware further. The games might be great but it’s harder to install the base when it’s old (and never was cutting edge when it was launched in the first place.) Big mistake nintendo. They needed to have those titles ready to go at launch. They should have had 24 hour shifts running to get those titles ready. The window of opportunity to install that base has closed.

3) 3rd Party support – Nintendo should have made it a priority to get these titles on the WiiU. They did not. Probably due to the cost of additional programming for the WiiU gamepad. Nintendo probably wants these companies to pick up the tab for porting and additional development for the gamepad and the software companies are wisely saying NO. Nintendo still thinks the Wii fad is on and that they are in a position to extract favors from the publishers and they are not. They need to work closer with these companies and get the best of what they offer on the WiiU. The only time it seemed like they were doing this is for the launch, since then it’s been quiet. Too bad. This is nintendo’s loss, not the other publishers.

* The future – Nintendo definitely has enough cash (10 Billion) on hand to limp through the next 4 years (when the Wii U can be retired and they can launch another home system.) Their plan should be to let falling prices for a Steambox eat up the hardcore gaming competition between PS4/XB1 until both companies want out of future hardware (can’t afford to subsidize further hardware) and then they can launch a system that is much more kid friendly, simple, and that has modern specs. Nintendo should support it straight out of the box with innovative software that makes sharing and creativity a part of the game (map editors, simplified 3d modeling, interactive design features, all of which can be shared online etc., remember – discovery as a gameplay mechanic has always been good in Nintendo titles.) Some combination of Minecraft/Pilotwings/Animal Crossing/Earthbound. There will always be a desire for more “worlds” in gaming and that is what Nintendo has always been good at. Otherwise they will forever be in a shootout with companies that have a lot more money and resources than they have and they will eventually lose.

Nice article. Although i don’t agree with point 1, I have seen to many time: team does bad, fire the coach-approach that has some disadvantages and point 4 is a a problem everybody seem to have.

But point 2, 3 and 5 are right on the money. It pains me that Nintendo refuses to understand that an accountsystem is no longer a nice thing but an absolute necessity for all my media. I own a WiiU and a 3DS but systems like Steam, GOG and GMG have spoiled me to a point where Nintendo is judged and are found wanting.

In your entire article you do not ask new and better games from Nintendo, you are asking that they are willing to look at their competition and ask themselves where they could do better. So lets hope they can be willing to adapt. Then again pride is a strange thing.

I bought the Wii U at launch. I already owned a Wii and I saw the Wii U as the next generation of Nintendo console, as it has more powerful graphics, etc..and the Wii would be phased out. Yeah, there weren’t a ton of Wii U games available at launch, but I cannot afford to buy a bunch of games AND the console at the same time, so I was satisfied with the few new Wii U games, the downloadable games from Nintendo’s eShop, and my daughter and I still played all of our Wii games on the Wii U. Now, all these critics are bashing Nintendo, talking about how they didn’t hit their target in sales, there’s not enough games, etc…Well, they may not have sold as many units as they had hoped, but that doesn’t mean the Wii U is a failure, or that Nintendo is desperate now as a company to do something to save itself. They are doing just fine. My daughter and I own a 3DS as well, and between the Wii U and the 3DS, we are thrilled at the amount and the quality of games we have to play. And, you know what? We are not at all interested in the Xbox or Playstation and all of the redundant first-person shooter military murder games that seem to permeate those consoles. I like REAL video games, like the ones I grew up playing in arcades and on the early consoles. And this is what I want to share and pass on to my daughter—the joy of playing real creative video games, not teaching her how to blow people away with virtually realistic automatic weapons. GO NINTENDO!!! I might buy some Nintendo stock now.

I think it’s disrespectful to make war games about real people who really died in the wars anyway. Both my grandpa’s were in WWII, and they wouldn’t want kids playing war games. Life’s too short, why play depressing games?

And after those 5 announcements are made, here are 5 things they can do to FIX the issues: 1. Tap into the mountain of reserves you have in both money and IPs. Pay Bungie to develop the next Metroid Game. Rescue Squaresoft and get a Chrono Trigger Remake in the pipes. Pay Sega to give us a Star Fox game with insane online multi-player options and then finance revivals of some of their old IP’s like Afterburner, Hang-on, Golden Axe, etc. Give Rockstar whatever they want to make an exclusive Wii-U game-they will not let you down. Throw Capcom a much-needed bone and finance some Wii-U exclusive RE and Mega Man games. Maybe even attempt to buy Capcom. Adding their IPs would be a major move. Keeping quality control rigorous would be detrimental to any privately financed out-sourced games of course because one or two flops and suddenly you are digging a hole made of money. 2. Screw EA sports games-bring back the old guard. two words: Tecmo Bowl. Offering a different product is what Nintendo is all about. Find an american studio that truly wants to innovate the tired genre that Madden has been for a decade now and reinvent the wheel. Imagine MLB RBI baseball and NBA Double Dribble only on Wii-U. 3. Support the Wii-U tablet! Imagine 2 player co-op in Star Fox with player 1 using the pro-controller to navigate and take the enemy head on while player 2 is using the gamepad to rear-turrett and make repairs to the ship when damaged. Imagine wandering through a thick lush forrest as Link and swiping your fingers over the gamepad to brush the vines and limbs aside, or blowing on the mic to blow dust off of ancient tablets to read their texts. Switching special weapons or using energy tanks on Mega man? No problem with the gamepad. There is a reason Sony threw a touchpad on the PS4 controller at the last minute-they saw the wii u and saw the potential there. Use it!! 4. Zelda 5. Make Apple a business partner. give them old games on the app store and some exclusive content(Heck, Miyamoto would have a field day making apps) they give you itunes exclusively on the Wii-U. play your apps, watch your videos, sync your devices. The only home console to offer this would rule the North American market.

I think the real problem is the console market in general. What’s the point of even owning a console?

People were pretty happy with their 360s and their PS3s, and now we’ve got the XBoxOne and the PS4… thing is, though, when we went from the PS2 era to the PS3 era, we got a big graphics bump. PS3 to PS4? Much smaller difference. We’re at the point of diminishing returns.

The Wii U is the only next generation console even worth considering – the idea that the PS4 and the XBoxOne are really great ideas is silly. They’re terrible. They’re crippled computers. The Wii U, at least, tries to do something new.

But what does the Wii U have going for it other than Ninetendo?

The Wii U needs a killer app that really shows off why the gamepad is awesome. The rest of the stuff? Ehhhh… everyone has already played Nintendo games. The Wii sold itself via Wii Sports. The Wii U needs a gamepad game that sells the console, that sells the gamepad.

But the other two systems… I dunno what the point of them even is. Why not just have a PC? PC games are vastly cheaper and more convenient, thanks to Steam. You can play them with a controller if you want to. You can hook it up to your TV and play from your couch if you were so inclined. You can play any sort of game – controller based or mouse and keyboard based. Everything can be ported to the PC fairly readily. So why not use the PC?

That’s the issue we’re really seeing here. It will be interesting to see how the XBox One and PS4′s sales hold up over time – is the Wii U an anomaly, or are we going to see the other consoles suffer as well?

The lack of great release titles IS a problem, but to be fair, it has been a problem for all the consoles – none of them are actually worth buying for any game.

Please, your whole argument about PC has been true for years now yet consoles are still selling and PS4 and X1 actually just posted record launch sales.

If I wanted to deal with the cost, maintenance, upgrades, and general finickyness of PCs, then I would. People buy consoles for simplicity, something that Steam completely missed when making their steam boxes.

Besides, how does any of this make WiiU a good buy? The gamepad?? I already own an tablet and a PC, thank you very much. The gamepad is such a gimmick that to date even first-party Nintendo games barely use it.

Yeah I actually begged Nintendo to release their back catalog in a cool way a long time ago- like many others, but Nintendo stubbornly does what Nintendo wants not what customers want. Which is why they continue to fail on many endeavors. I just can’t believe it’s taken them this long and this many fails to not realize even a few good ideas out there and run with them. They really don’t seem to comprehend or “get” what made them popular for so long for so many years and have blown a lot of opportunities over the years. In trying so hard to be different and literally give up trying to compete with MS and Sony they have lost many opportunities to actually beat Sony and Microsoft had they taken a few simple steps and chances. Essentially they beat themselves before MS and Sony ever did.

I don’t think that getting rid of the Gamepad is the way to go. I have a Wii U and I just moved from Brazil to the US, and my dorm housing doesn’t have a TV. Now while my friends are running around in circles trying to buy on for their consoles, I can still play all my games without a TV, just on my gamepad. It’s incredibly handy, and what they lack in variety they more than make up with quality! Most of my games stayed home, but the few that I bought here are amazing!

1. Make a themepark called Nintendo Land. There could be go karts like Mario Kart, Waterslides that look like the green pipes from Mario brothers, mechanical horseback rides like Zelda, even a space ride for Star Fox…like Space Mountain, only better.

2. Launch a Blue Ray Add-On component for those like me who don’t have Blu-Ray, or a DVD player.

3. Launch New game titles, along with revised, remastered editions. I’d absolutely love to play Ocarina of Time again, but with Wii U graphics instead. I’d pay $60 + for that in a heartbeat.

4. Make a Smart Phone called the Nintendo “GO”, with a miniture D Pad (like the gamecube’s size), and an analog, like the 3DS, with a touch screen too.

1. Make a themepark called Nintendo Land. There could be go karts like Mario Kart, Waterslides that look like the green pipes from Mario brothers, mechanical horseback rides like Zelda, even a space ride for Star Fox…like Space Mountain, only better.

2. Launch a Blue Ray Add-On component for those like me who don’t have Blu-Ray, or a DVD player.

3. Launch New game titles, along with revised, remastered editions. I’d absolutely love to play Ocarina of Time again, but with Wii U graphics instead. I’d pay $60 + for that in a heartbeat.

4. Make a Smart Phone called the Nintendo “GO”, with a miniture D Pad (like the gamecube’s size), and an analog, like the 3DS, with a touch screen too.

Right on. I think, the account strategy is key. PSN Plus really has this right from a customer loyalty perspective. The Nintendo approach to tie digital sales to the device instead of the individual is a clear hinderance for the users – especially parent of minors, which is a key market. Kids lose and break their stuff and parents will hesitate on their investment in games (by far larger in volume per user and more lucrative than the console.)

The shift to digital distribution is critical to Nintendo as the third platform, since it will lose physical outlets. Compatibility across platforms (generational and mobile/digital) also encourages customer loyalty due to sunk cost.

These are all powerful levers – especially with Nintendo’s franchises.

Finally, despite all the pundits they really must pursue a “counter” strategy and not deliver devices in direct competition with Sony and Microsoft. Peripherals like motion controllers (Wii), WiiU Game Pad, and Balance Board really create differentiation that is hard to beat. In my mind, the kley is: - Customer loyalty through digital distribution tied to the person rather than the device - Use purchased games/experiences and carry them over generations to bolster difficult generational transitions (WiiU backward compatibility is a good thing) - Tighter mobile to console integration in the future – hardware & game APIs – to leverage strengths on either platform - Innovate with peripherals – game experiences will become more virtual, mixed into real life – the internet everywhere.